baking

daylight savings time getting the best of me? better recover with delicious morning muffins.

~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

What an awesome weekend.  I was super lucky to get to spend some time with my girl friends in Philly this weekend doing an awesome workout for the #MyCityMoves campaign, which left me oh so sore, but oh so satisfied.  Is there anything better than a new, challenging workout?  Plus we didn’t look to bad afterwards if I do say so myself.

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Daylight savings time came in full force on Sunday though and I wasn’t ready for it.  I had some how convinced myself that 6 am would feel like 7 am and that the mornings would be bright and cheery.  Spoiler alert: this is not the case.  In fact, it is the exact opposite.  I woke up on Sunday feeling sleepy as all get out an confused about why it was so dark outside when my watch blinked 6:45.  I got up and got my butt to the gym anyway.

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Good thing I was the only one there.

I’m not kidding when I say it was me and one other person.  That’s it.  But that made for an awesome workout because I could play around with any and all machines I wanted and not bother anyone.

I ended up putting together a quick circuit workout after a leisurely 4 mile run.

Complete all three circuits with a 60 sec rest between each and repeat the whole thing 2 more times.

Circuit 1: 10 weighted lunges, 10 squats, and 10 burpees

Circuit 2: 10 squat jumps, 10 straight leg deadlifts, fast half mile run

Circuit 3: 10 ice skaters, 10 squat to row, 10 lateral lunges

Throwing some running in there kept my heart rate through the roof and made me feel like a powerhouse.  I got up to 10.2 on the treadmill and kept telling myself “Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall” for the entirety of my sprint (also I didn’t run the whole half mile at this pace, don’t worry).

The hardest part about waking up these past couple of days has been motivating myself to do so, so when my boyfriend asked me to make delicious muffins to wake up to, I had to oblige.  These bran muffins may not be the healthiest thing out there, but dang if they’re not delicious.

Bran Muffins 

Ingredients

-1 1/2 cups bran cereal (I used Fiber One Bran Cereal)

-1 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have this, you can use milk and vinegar)

-1/3 cup melted coconut oil

-1 egg

-2/3 cup of brown sugar

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp baking powder

-1 tsp baking soda

-pinch of salt

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Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray
  • in a medium bowl, soak bran cereal (I like to crunch it up a bit first) in the buttermilk for 10-15 minutes
  • Add in melted coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, flour, egg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and stir it all together.  The mixture will be thick, but delicious
  • Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins (mine made about 15 muffins, but it easily could have been compacted to 12)
  • Bake in the oven for about 13-15 minutes or until a poker comes out clean.

These muffins are everything.  Super easy to make and 1000% delicious.  I’ve probably eaten about 30 thus far (I made multiple batches, don’t you worry) and I have no shame about it.

Also, please look at this.  Sloths or chocolate croissants?  I was dying.

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  • How are you doing with Daylight Savings Time?
  • What’s your go to breakfast these days?

-sj

greek yogurt pancake goodness and a new found hobby

Aside ~ ~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I’ve been all gogogo lately.  I don’t even remember the last time I just had time to stop and veg out on my couch, let alone blog.  But I’m back!  In my time away, I have spent a good portion traveling for work, picking up new hobbies, and cooking my little heart out.

I have really started getting into fencing.  I was bored awhile back and was looking for an activity to pick up and stumbled upon fencing.  I had spent many years as a dancer and had taken come stage combat courses in college, so it sounded like something that would be a perfect fit for me.  So, I started taking classes.  Turns out, it’s quite the workout.  The footwork we do at the beginning of class is heavily squat and lunge based and next day soreness has taken on a whole new meaning.  Not to mention the cool bruises I am not sporting on my arm from getting stabbed repeatedly.  Even though I’m not the best yet, I’m finding it really refreshing to challenge my brain and my body in a new way.  The most interesting aspect to me about fencing thus far is the amount of mental activity goes in to it as well as physical.  You have to read your opponent and the clues they’re giving you along with planning out your own attacks.  If you have any interest in logic or chess or thinking games, you need to find out if there’s a fencing gym near by.  Please enjoy my bruise laden arm below:

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To fuel after my lovely fencing bouts, I have mastered the art of the pancake.  Now usually I use Kodiak Cake mix to make my pancakes because it’s quick and easy, but when I’ve got extra time, I like to throw together this delicious recipe.  It’s so easy and absolutely delicious.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes!

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 TBSP sugar
  • 2 TBSP greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup of milk (I used almond)
  • splash of vanilla
  • pinch of salt

Mix ingredients together.  Set a pan on the stove on medium heat.  Place small scoops of batter into the pan and wait until bubbles appear. Flip. Let sit another minute and then repeat until all batter is used and you have a pile of piping hot goodness awaiting you.

-sj